For consumers with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD), my colleague agrees that whole person care models are increasingly the path to better health and lower total health care costs. This is due primarily to the functional effects of the disorders along with, sometimes hidden, co-occurring conditions. With regard to the latter, there are significant research findings that these consumers have three times more physical health problems than the general population and twice as many mental health disorders (see The Future Of Community Based I/DD Services).

A new study, Anxiety, Depression, And Care Barriers In Adults With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, expands on this earlier data. Among adults with I/DD, 57% reported an anxiety diagnosis compared with 10.6% of adults without functional…